Blogs

Colonel Samuel Smith Park is famous as a bird watching hotspot and for its outdoor ice rink trail, but this year it became the site of another exciting development! In the spring and fall of 2018, LEAF hosted a special two-part Tree Tour series in this park. Tour participants had the delightful opportunity to learn seasonal tree identification tips from our certified arborist.

This year brought lots of exciting opportunities for LEAF, including a partnership with the Town of Richmond Hill to engage the community and increase urban canopy cover. Through five different events during the spring and fall of 2018, we planted over 1250 trees and shrubs to enhance Richmond Hill’s urban forest!

As part of LEAF’s 2018 Young Urban Forest Leaders (YUFLs) program, Armita, Farheen, Megan and Sneha joined efforts with Our Place Initiative to launch a new Adopt-A-Park-Tree program in Centennial Park. To introduce the program, a public Tree Tour and stewardship event was held at the park on Sunday, August 26th, 2018. Though it was a hot summer afternoon, there was great community turn out with lots of excitement, energy and great stewardship spirit!

Outdoor spaces, when properly planned and planted, can be such a great resource! A well designed yard can act as an outdoor extension of your home, where your family can relax. It can also serve as vital habitat for local wildlife. Designing a wildlife-friendly yard is an easy way to improve our urban forest and promote local biodiversity.